Auto zoom TO a selected layer

In my model I use some parts from other models from 3DWharehouse. At times I only use one or 2 components of a huge model. I have noticed that my layers tray is huge with layers I have not made. I know that with everything turned on (viewable) I can select a layer and it will highlight those items. But apparently many of these are very very small pieces and I am not seeing them in my huge model.

My question is this… Is there a way to have Sketchup highlight and MOVE TO the items in that layer? I am guessing not but thought I would ask those that are wayyyyy more advanced than I am in the use of Sketchup. 2017 here by the way…

Maybe a plug in or some external way to do it? If not, it’s not the end of my world, but I want to clean up all those layers and make them go away but worried that I may delete something I need by accident.

Thanks!

Greg

Nothing in SketchUp gets put “on” a layer. Layers (and now Tags in 2020) are properties assigned to components and groups. You can select components and/or groups and assign other Layers/Tags to them in Entity Info. Best practice when importing components from the 3D Warehouse is to import them into a separate file so you can clean them up, remove unwanted layers/tags, make sure all edges and faces are assigned layer 0 or are shown as untagged. Once the component is clean, import it into your model. Of course since you are leaving Layer 0 as the active layer at all times, the component will be assigned Layer 0 so after importing it, change the layer assignment for the component to the appropriate one.

Thanks
DaveR. I do know how the layers work in Sketchup. I know that putting an object or group of objects “on to” a layer isn’t moving it actually but rather categorizing them simply for visibility purposes. That’s exactly how I use them. So I can show/hide various parts of my model. (turn off furnishings in each room, hide the roof, etc…)

I do like the idea of importing into a seperate model. That makes much sense. Especially when doing models where I want one of several hundred parts of that model. Thanks for that tip.

I just wondered if I can have the view zoom into the objects associated with a particular layer. As I see it does highlight them in the outliner…just wanted it to ‘go to’ them in the main screen.

Greg

Your topic title is a bit misleading. (I changed the word “move” to “zoom”.)
What you speak of is a combination of Select by Layer/Tag and then Zoom to Selection.

The first can likely be achieved by ThomThom’s Selection Toys plugin.
The latter I think is native (on the context menu when right-clicking on selected objects.)

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or

Turn off all tags [eye icon] >> tun on the one your interested in >> Zoom extents…

john

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… but He’s using SU2017 which doesn’t have the “eye icons”.

There is still no way to exclude models with tags when searching in 3D Warehouse :confused: . In my view this is often a sign of a low quality component.

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Thank you Dan. That does make more sense. That eye icon sounds nice…but I love 2017 and for what I do, it’s MOSTLY perfect. :slight_smile:

Greg

You don’t need the ‘eye’ just use the checkbox in 2017.
You can select multiple same as any windows list, shift will select all between and ctrl will select individual clicks.
MultiLayers